Liberation Way paid no fines for violations

When state inspectors in November found violations of 18 different provisions of state law at Liberation Way LLC in Montgomery County - far more than were found at other area drug abuse treatment providers - the state could not levy fines.

Pennsylvania government has no mechanism that allows the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs to financially penalize companies that break rules while providing treatment to drug abusers.

Other states do allow such penalties.

State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale described the toothless nature of state oversight in a July 2017 audit report.

TODAY'S SPONSOR:

"Having the ability to levy fines against providers who commit egregious licensing violations would provide a disincentive to those providers to establish practices that put citizens at risk," DePasquale's report said.

New Jersey charges a civil penalty of $25 a day for the first occurrence of a violation, DePasquale found, and $50 a day for subsequent violations.

Maryland has a civil penalty of not more than $1,000 for each offense. In California, a civil penalty of $200 a day is assessed from the date the facility received notice of a violation.

Beyond that, Pennsylvania does not assess fees for drug abuse treatment providers when they first seek their state licenses.

A Reading Eagle review of Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs licensing data last month found that the number of active state licenses for drug abuse treatment increased to 1,282 in 2017 from 866 in 2013, an increase of 48 percent. None of those licenses granted by the agency produced revenue for the state itself.

The auditor general listed annual license fees charged in various states - $30 in Missouri, $300 in Louisiana, $700 in Maryland and up to $1,400 in Utah - and laid out in stark terms Pennsylvania's reluctance to make the drug-abuse-treatment industry pay.

"Regardless of the amount of the licensure fee, it is clear that states with overdose death rates similar to Pennsylvania's have established a fee-based system," the report said.

Under the most simple model, the report continued, an annual facility license fee of $1,300 would generate about $1 million a year for Pennsylvania.

In an email, Drug and Alcohol Programs spokeswoman Ali Fogarty said the agency was exploring the auditor general's recommendations.